474 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



the wing. The secondary quills have also a glossy black spot on the end of each feather, 

 which gives the wing a black edging. The most frequent defect in the cock is a reddish- 

 ( brown patch on the wing, which is fatal. 



&quot;We believe this fault to occur nearly always in old birds, and remember seeing a cock 

 which had taken thirty-seven prizes moult out thus at last, and so end his career as an 

 exhibition bird. The bar on the wings is difficult to get, and is not imperative; any cock 

 with a nicely edged tail, and quite free from colored or black markings on any part of the 

 body, ought to stand a fair chance in exhibition, if form and comb be good. As a bird to 

 breed from, however, he would be a failure; as it is impossible to get well-marked pullets 

 except from a cock with a good proportion of black under-color. 



The most frequent fault in the hen is a spotted hackle, instead of pure white. The rest 

 of the body should have each feather distinctly marked, or penciled across with bars of 

 black, free from cloudiness, or, as it is called, mossing. The tail feathers should be 

 the same as the body; but to get the quill feathers of the wings so is rare, and a hen thus 

 marked is usually valuable. Their general form is very neat, and appearance remarkably 

 sprightly.&quot; 



The ground color of the hen is pure silver- white ; the back, breast, body, thighs, and 

 tail having every feather evenly barred with black; wings the same, excepting the primaries, 

 which are clear white. Care should be taken in selecting pullets for breeding that the 

 feathers of the tail be plainly penciled with dark bars. The ear-lobes should be white, fitting 

 close to the head. The beak should be silvery-white and rather short. 



They are a truly beautiful bird, and have improved much by careful breeding, in the 

 uniformity of plumage and other respects, since the commencement of the poultry show era. 



In all Penciled Hamburgs the value depends mainly upon the exact and well defined 

 marking of the plumage, which should be a dense black, and the color between, a clear silvery 

 white. In the hen, the feathers are often so distinctly and evenly marked as to form parallel 

 lines of black across the body of the bird. This is a little larger than the Golden Penciled 

 variety. 



Golden Penciled Hamburgs. The form of this variety is the same as the Silver 

 Penciled previously described, and the black penciling similar, the only difference being in 

 the ground color of the plumage, which in that variety is a silvery white, and this, a rich 

 golden bay. In this variety the color of the cock is much darker than that of the hen, often 

 approaching a rich chestnut. 



The tail of the cock is a greenish black, lustrous, and the sickle feathers distinctly edged 

 with bronze or a reddish bay; sometimes the tail feathers are bronzed all over, though the 

 former is considered the most desirable marking. 



Silver Spangled Hamburgs. The difference between the penciled and spangled 

 plumage is, that while the former consists of parallel bars across the feathers, the latter have 

 only one black mark at the end of each feather, which forms the spangle. 



This black marking on the feathers varies in shape and size; the most popular and com 

 mon are those with the round or moon-shaped spangles, which in some parts of England 

 formerly gave the fowls the name of &quot; Mooneys.&quot; 



In this class the head of both sexes is silvery white, the hackle having each feather 

 ending with a small black moon or spangle. The plumage of the body has each feather ter 

 minating with a greenish black moon or spangle, the size of the marking increasing with the 

 size of the feather, which gives it a rayed or starry appearance. The spangles on the wing- 

 covert feathers in both the cock and hen, form two distinct black bars across the wings. The 

 sickle feathers of the cock are pure white, with a lustrous greenish-black spangle at the end 

 of each feather. The feathers of the tail and tail-coverts are marked in the same way, giving 

 the fowl a beautiful appearance. The hen is similarly marked. This variety has also the 



